In this issue:

• Wire 1.0 Released and Making Complex Objects With Wire 1.0 - by Tom Nally
• Gif Viewer - by Janet Terra
• Simple Report and Document Generation - by Mike Bradbury
• Easing Software Development by Using Flow Charting - by Noble Bell
• Stylebits Corner - Toggle Buttons - by Janet Terra
• Tip Corner - a SUB for Resizehandler - by Alyce Watson
• API Corner - MoveWindow - by Alyce Watson
• Eddie's Lessons, Introducing CodeAChrome! - by Alyce Watson
• Sprite Byte - Making Sprite Graphics Persist - by Alyce Watson
• Running Control Panel Applets - by Alyce Watson
• DEMOS
  • Retrieving HTTPS Data Demo - by Brent Thorn
  • Eddie, the Code Editor - by Alyce Watson
• Submission Guidelines
• Index

Notes from the editor:

The quote for this issue is by Mark Twain. "Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time." I selected it to go along with a couple of the articles, Stylebits Corner and Tip Corner. In the days before Liberty BASIC 4, we had to use branch labels as event handlers for controls and windows. Buttons require event handlers, as do listboxes, radiobuttons and other controls. Graphics commands for "when leftButtonUp", "when characterInput" and so on, also require event handlers. Window commands like "trapclose" and "resizehandler" require event handlers, as does the "timer" command. These event handlers had to be branch labels in earlier versions of Liberty BASIC. That made them "gotos". We can now use Subs as event handlers. Subs work differently than branch labels and there may be times when using Subs is the preferred way of handling events. If like me, you are an old-time Liberty BASIC user, it is hard to break the old "branch label" habit! We don't have to fling that habit out the window. We can coax it downstairs a step at a time. See the Stylebits Corner, which tells us how to use subs to handle button events. See also the Tip Corner, which discusses the use of a Sub for the resizehandler.

This issue has a lovely variety of articles for all skill levels and various interests. It begins with another incredible article by Tom Nally. Tom introduced his wire frame library in an earlier issue. If you've been watching the development as I have, you've been impressed and awed by the "all native Liberty BASIC" library of functions that allows programmers to create and manipulate wire frame objects easily. The Liberty BASIC Wire Frame Library has now matured to version 1.0 with the addition of the ability to create complex objects of one's own design. Look at this complex ship object!

Tom includes comprehensive documentation of the 53 functions, as well as demo programs and a template to get you started on your own wire frame programming. This stuff is beyond amazing!

I'm always very impressed with the structure of Tom's programs. He gives a lot of thought to the outline and flow of an application before he begins, so that it can be modified and expanded with no trouble. The code is easy to follow. Tom excels at documentation writing, too. His documentation and help files are clear, concise and highly user-friendly. His articles here, in my humble opinion, are the best that have ever been included in the newsletters. Thank you, Tom, for sharing so much with us.

This issue features a gem from Janet Terra -- Gif Viewer. Janet makes it so simple to display GIFs, particularly animated GIFs on our program windows. Janet always has the imagination to explore new techniques, and she also explains them so that we can all understand. Thanks, Janet!

Our friend and frequent contributor, Mike Bradbury has also made clever use of the new browser control in Simple Report and Document Generation. This method is incredibly handy. Mike presents a fantastic demo and instructions for creating reports that can be viewed or printed. I know we'll see a lot of Liberty BASIC programmers incorporating these methods into their applications!

Noble Bell helps us understand Easing Software Development by Using Flow Charting. It's time to learn from this article and plan our code with flowcharts. Thanks very much, Noble!

Janet Terra gives us another of her popular series on stylebits -- Stylebits Corner - Toggle Buttons. This one also includes code from our friend Stefan Pendl. If you know Stefan, you know that he's one of the programming experts, and he's also always there to help. Thanks very much, Janet and Stefan.

If you found the internet articles in last month's issue to be interesting, you are going to love this one by Brent Thorn: Retrieving HTTPS Data Demo Brent really know his stuff and he's always happy to share his expertise with the rest of us. I can't even imagine where Liberty BASIC would be without Brent! Thank you so much!

My own contributions this month include Tip Corner - a SUB for Resizehandler, API Corner - MoveWindow, Eddie's Lessons, Introducing CodeAChrome!, Sprite Byte - Making Sprite Graphics Persist and Running Control Panel Applets If you've never heard of CodeAChrome, that's because it is appearing for the first time in public release. It is a code editing component for your Liberty BASIC programs. We've been able to use the Scintilla add-on for a long time because of the pioneering work of Mitch Kotler. Scintilla is quite complex, though, and many people complained that it was just too hard to use. CodeAChrome is a control for those of us who want to place a syntax-coloring control in our applications the easy way. It requires only one simple API call to add it to a program, and another to destroy it when the program ends. There are plenty of other simple calls to manage it, should the programmer want to get fancy. It has optional line numbers, a context menu, and other goodies. Check it out: Eddie's Lessons, Introducing CodeAChrome!

I'd like to end with a special expression of thanks to Tom Nally. He was in line to publish the September issue, and he did it with his usual flair. Tom is a resident of New Orleans, who evacuated in the face of Hurricane Katrina and spent weeks on the road with his family. Even so, he made the publication of issue #136 a priority. Please take a moment to send Tom some good wishes, here: [http://libertybasic.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=feedback]

- Alyce Watson